


High Expectations

by SydAce



Series: Final Fantasy VII Oneshots/Drabbles/Short Series [11]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Anxiety, Because that's how I am at work and I burn myself out, Junon, Parade, Secretary - Freeform, Ship, Work, no sleep, planning, reader has anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23898778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SydAce/pseuds/SydAce
Summary: You are the recently hired secretary for President Rufus Shinra. He was just promoted and need an excuse to move military through Junon without alarming the public.
Relationships: Rufus Shinra/Reader
Series: Final Fantasy VII Oneshots/Drabbles/Short Series [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751617
Comments: 6
Kudos: 96





	High Expectations

You honestly had no idea what the hell the last secretary was doing. There was no organization. No rhyme or reason as to where anything was. Honestly, you thought the secretary was trying to get fired. It was more like the secretary was trying to get their boss fired as per the order of their boss’s boss.

That was unacceptable in your book. Especially now that the boss’s boss was dead and now the boss was the boss. You shook your head knowing that only made you sound like some insane rambler. But it made sense…To you. Maybe your boss, too. He fired the last secretary the moment he was promoted via inheritance.

“Why are there sticky notes everywhere? I don’t even know if they’re relevant anymore,” you grumbled and ran a hand through your hair. You held a sticky note up to the light to try and determine if the ink had faded at all.

“How’s it goin’?”

You jumped and dropped the pale pink sticky note and glanced over. There was a Turk with spikey red hair. Sitting up straight, you cleared your throat. “I’m doing well, thank you. How may I help you?”

He dismissed you with a wave of his hand. “Just checkin’ on the boss’s new secretary. Heard you came in early. Last one sucked and was always late.”

“Yes, well.” Your eyes jumped around on every bit of torn paper on the desk. “I can see that. Did they know how to operate a computer?”

“She knew how to work her cellphone,” he chuckled. He grabbed a chair and dragged it over to your desk. “Other than that, she wrote down messages on something she would tear out of a notebook and leave it on her desk.”

“My god,” you groaned and pinched the bridge of your nose. Just by glancing at the pieces of paper, they were so incoherent with the sloppiest of penmanship that you couldn’t understand a single thing she was trying to say.

“But hey, at least the bar is set low.”

“No! It’s not set low!” you protested with a pout. “I have to exceed the bar I set for myself. Which is high, by the way.”

The man chuckled. “You’re a fiery one, aren’t you?”

“More like dealing with constant anxiety,” you muttered under your breath. “Anyways, I’m [Y/N]. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Reno,” the man replied. He watched with amusement as you started to sort the scraps bit of paper. There was a pile of what you were sure were actually scribbles and no real words, a pile where there were just a couple of words and then scribbles, and a pile of what looked like could be an actual message. “Watcha plannin’ on doing with that?”

“I’ll be scanning and uploading them onto the computer, based on my best estimate as to what they actually say, and about what order they were written,” you hummed in reply. Once they were sorted, you stood and hurriedly made your way over to printer/fax/scanner/time machine.

“You could just toss them,” Reno suggested.

You stiffened at the idea. “No, there could be something important!”

“If there was something important, she wouldn’t have written it down.”

“Still,” you sighed and started the long process of scanning every tiny bit of paper. Of course, you couldn’t just put multiple sheets through the scanner to make it automatic. You had to put it on the scanning glass, one-by-one.

“Excuse me?” a voice sounded from the office’s entrance. There was a soft knock on the door frame. You looked over and saw a woman holding a vase filled with white lilies, roses, daisies, and mums. “I have a delivery for [Y/N].”

“Yes, thank you!” You hurriedly took the vase from the woman and dismissed her, having had already tipped her online.

“What are those fore?”

“His father just died,” you muttered and scrutinized the bouquet for any imperfections, there weren’t any. “I was told he didn’t really care for his father, but I figured it’d still be nice to give him something.” You walked towards where his desk was. It was nearly empty, allowing you to place it with ease.

“Have you even met him yet?” Reno quirked an eyebrow up.

“No.” You returned to your previous position at the scanner and glanced at your watch. You had approximately thirty minutes before you were required to be at work. You were going to be paid by the year, so getting there early didn’t hurt anything.

“Well!” Reno clapped his hands on his thighs before standing up. “I need to get goin’. If you need anything, just holler. I’m sure we’ll see each other a lot.”

“Thank you.” You nodded your head but didn’t redirect your attention away from the pieces of paper you were scanning. Once the green light was done going back and forth nearly a dozen times and the files were sent to your computer, you gathered the pieces of paper to file later. There were other things you needed to prioritize.

Your fingers sped across the keyboard while you searched for any appointments that the president could have. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing for the past few years. You scrunched your nose up in confusion. Even the part-time hourly workers had more meetings than that.

“Did she seriously not schedule a single thing?” you whispered in astonishment at how far she went to suck at her job. “Well, nothing to back up, then.” You wanted to cry from the feeling that you were doing something wrong, but there was nothing you could do.

The elevator dinged. You glanced at your watch. It was about time for the president to show up. Ten minutes early, you noted. Staring at the elevator, you held your breath as the doors opened. A man in a white suit exited the elevator. Quickly, you stood from your seat and bowed slightly as he entered the office.

“Good morning, President Shinra.”

The man paused in his steps and looked over at you. There was a firm frown set on his face. You felt some sweat build up on the back of your neck from his intense stare.

“It’s President Rufus,” he corrected sternly. “I will not be mistaken for my father.”

“My apologies, President Rufus.” You were crying on the inside. Absolutely crying.

“I need to you schedule me a flight to Junon. I need Heidegger to be with me. We’ll most likely be traveling from there. We will need a substantial amount of security personnel without alarming the public as to why their streets are flooded with military.”

“Yes, sir!” you responded quickly and turned towards your computer to start orchestrating the trip.

Rufus nodded before continuing to his chair. He stopped in front of his desk and looked at the flowers. He glanced over his shoulder towards you before taking his seat and taking care of business he didn’t finish the night prior.

“A military parade!” you suddenly exclaimed with a wide grin. Then, you paused and covered your mouth with a slightly fearful look towards Rufus. “Sorry.”

“If the idea is worthless, then apologize. What is your idea?”

“Well,” you paused and swallowed your nerves. “One way to move a large number of soldiers would be to hold a parade. It’d be a way to gather support for Shinra, for you to clearly establish yourself as president, and demonstrate the extent of Shinra’s power to those opposed.”

“And would you be able to organize such a thing in less than a week?” Rufus’s steely gaze scrutinized your form for any imperfections.

Your hands formed into tight fists. “Yes.”

\---

It was day three into planning. The first night, you gathered changes of clothes from your home and temporarily moved into Shinra Tower. You were in the office before Rufus arrived and well past when he left.

There was only the point of getting a chartered flight to Junon that met Heidegger’s preferences. Nothing was good enough for that man. To make matters worse, most air carriers were under their annual maintenance. Why they were all scheduled for the same time was beyond you.

Opening your e-mail, you prayed there was something saying that you got a flight. There it was. The Highwind was available. But just barely. It’d be going into maintenance almost immediately after its arrival to Junon. With a rush, it’d take three days to be completed. If that wasn’t good enough for Heidegger, you would actually murder that man yourself.

There was another e-mail with a file containing and a newly composed song for Rufus’s parade. You opened it and turned up your speakers. Music, that wasn’t half-bad given it was written in only a day, played.

“What are you listening to?”

You jumped and looked up at the president with wide eyes. Quickly, you paused the music. “I-I,” you stammered and took a deep breath to calm your nerves. “I commissioned a composure to create this for your parade. The infantrymen will do a small performance to it during the Welcoming March.”

“I see, and what else have you planned?” There was no indication as to how Rufus was feeling. You couldn’t tell if he was pleased, angry, or anything.

“Well, we have banners created with your signature created to be draped down the front of each building on the route. There will be two on each building, actually. Heidegger will be at the front leading a squadron of Soldiers. Then, you’ll follow in a car. If there’s a situation, the car can create a shield and get you out of there quickly. Of course, with the security measures in place, that shouldn’t happen. But you can never be too careful.”

“And what do the banners say?”

“Uh,” you hesitated. “New Age. President of Shinra, Rufus.”

A slight smirk appeared on Rufus’s face. “Very good.” He turned to begin to head back to his desk. “Oh, and we will be needing to cross the ocean to Costa del Sol after I give my speech.”

You froze. “Y-Yes, sir!” You wanted to cry knowing that getting an airship to cross the ocean that day would be impossible. It would have to be a traditional boat or submarine. A submarine was too risky and too cramped.

You stood up with your legs shaking every so slightly. Slowly, you walked over to the president’s desk. “Excuse me, sir.” He looked up at you and motioned for you to continue. “All of Shinra's aircrafts will be undergoing maintenance on the day of your speech. Would a ship suffice?”

“That’ll be fine.”

You let out a breath you were holding and gave a weak smile. “Thank you, sir.”

“Relax, [Y/N],” Rufus spoke once you turned to head back to your desk. “You’re exceeding expectations.”

You felt your cheeks head up at the praise. “Th-Thank you, sir!”

\--

The alarms were blaring on the ship. You looked around in fear. Red lights were flashing. Though you were informed on what to do, your nerves were screaming and you were forgetting. You just needed to get somewhere safe, but where was safe?

“Take a deep breath,” you whispered to yourself to try and stop yourself from having a panic attack.

You looked over to Rufus and Heidegger. Heidegger was running around screaming at his men. You could have sworn he had just punched one of them. Rufus was looking around at the windows and his hand went towards where his shotgun was.

“Sir!” You ran over to Rufus. “We need to get you out of here. There’s a safe room set up for you.”

He nodded towards you as you exited the control room. Soldiers were running down the hall with their guns close to their chests. Some were yelling about a man in a black cape and some sort of monster below deck.

“Multiple casualties!” one yelled as he ran past you.

Your heart hammered. As you led the president down the hall. Your eyes kept clanking behind your soldier to make sure he was still there. In a couple of minutes, you paused in front of the door and swiped your security card.

“Here, sir,” you stated and stepped aside so he could enter the room.

“After you,” Rufus stated.

You scrunched your nose up in confusion. “But sir, your safety--.”

“You will not be a hindrance to my safety by being there.”

Nodding a brief thanks, you entered the room and started to make sure everything was secure. There was an emergency generator, a first-aid kit, and supplies to last a few days. The Turks spared no expense in ensuring the president’s safety and comfort.

The door shut and locked behind the president and he went towards the couch. He moved his shotgun and placed it on the floor next to him. He watched you stare at the door for anyone trying to intrude.

“Relax, [Y/N]. Nothing will happen to us so long as we’re in here.”

“But--.”  
“The Turks never fail their missions. Their mission is to protect me.”

“With all due respect, sir. Their mission was to protect the late president.”

Rufus chuckled slightly. “It was just the opposite. They were to not be near my father at the time of his assassination. Why do you think Sephiroth was in that building that night? Or how do you think I knew to show up at that tower shortly after my father was killed?”

“I…” you paused in shock. “You hired Sephiroth to kill him?” Rufus didn’t answer, but the smirk on his face said enough. You staggered back to the wall and leaned on it, fearful that your legs would give out from under you. You knew Shinra wasn’t the most ethical corporation, but there wasn’t a single ethical one under capitalism. And you needed the money. But this…Was beyond what you thought you were signing up for.

“Didn’t you know that my father and I didn’t get along?”

“Mmm,” you hummed and nodded your head. “I knew that.”

“Then, why did you give me flowers?”

You looked up at him. Looking back down to the floor, you slid down against the wall until you were sitting. “I know you didn’t like your father. But that didn’t mean you were still upset by it. You might not miss the person, but you might miss the role he could have filled. That you’d never have a good father. They were more for the role you lost, not the person.”

Rufus hummed while thinking. He stood up from the couch and made his way towards you. You watched with slight curiosity, some fear that he was going to kill you. He turned and slid against the wall next to you until you were sitting side-by-side.

“You are by far the best secretary I’ve ever had.”

**Author's Note:**

> May continue with this, no idea


End file.
